Researchers recently examined how young, middle-aged, and older adults emotionally react while watching films designed to elicit sadness, disgust, and neutral reactions. The researchers assessed participants’ physiological responding (e.g., heart rate reactivity, sweat responses on the fingers) while the participants watched the films, and collected participants’ self-reports of their emotional experiences after the films. Older adults reported greater sadness in response to all films and demonstrated larger physiological responses (e.g., increased heart rate reactivity, larger sweat responses) to the sadness film than did middle-aged and younger participants. These differences held after accounting for self-reported sadness prior to viewing films and self-reported personal experiences of loss. In sum, data suggested that reactivity to sadness increases with age. Read more in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience…
From the monthly archives:
July 2010
Recent data from a meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Medicine suggest that calcium supplements (without vitamin D) may do more harm than good. Researchers compiled data from 15 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials involving both men and women, wherein the active-treatment condition involved doses of >500 mg/day. Data revealed that of some 12,000 participants, calcium supplementation was associated with an approximately 30% increase in myocardial infarctions, and smaller (non-significant) increases in stroke and mortality risk, however dietary calcium intake (alone) was not associated with this increased risk. After a more careful inspection of the results, however, one can see that among the patient-level data (8151 participants), calcium supplementation for those with dietary (not supplemental) calcium intakes above 805 mg/day (median), but not below that amount, was associated with increased risk for myocardial infarction. Previous research has shown that high levels of dietary calcium (top 20-25%) intake are associated with fewer incidences of cardiovascular mortality and ischaemic stroke as compared with lower levels of dietary calcium (bottom 20-25%). Research has not demonstrated links between increased incidences of heart disease or stroke and calcium supplementation co-administered with vitamin D. The take home message? Eat calcium-rich foods – and perhaps enter a day’s worth of your eating into a fitday.com analysis to see how much dietary calcium you really consume, and adjust food choices accordingly. In a commentary on this article (also published in BMJ), Dr. John Cleland, Professor of Cardiology at Hull York Medical School, stated, “In the meantime, on the basis of the limited evidence available, patients with osteoporosis should generally not be treated with calcium supplements, either alone or combined with vitamin D, unless they are also receiving an effective treatment for osteoporosis for a recognised indication. Research on whether such supplements are needed as an adjunct to effective agents is urgently required” (BMJ 2010;341:c3856). Read the original article at the British Journal of Medicine…